“Friday morning I went by bus to Hampstead Heath, strolled about a bit”
The first half of a big day, Friday 25 May, from Jean’s letter to her mother … continues below in her letter to her sister Mary.
“Next morning Yvonne met the boyfriend who had gone home to Bekingham in Kent the night before (his people live there), fixed her business in London and went down to his place for tea. I met Betty for lunch and we went by bus to Windsor Castle for the afternoon. A lovely drive, and the castle was beautiful, particularly St Georges Chapel and the art collection. We passed through Eton. We arrived back very late, had dinner in town. Yvonne was in when I arrived back. She told me they’d become engaged and were being married as soon as possible so they could do their travelling round together. The best thing they could do, but a pity they hadn’t married before they left for her mother’s sake. Poor girl is a whirl of excitement and hardly knows herself what to do. She’s staying with relations in Lanarkshire, and hoping I’ll be able to see her on my way to Scotland, so I’m waiting to hear from her before I arrange my trip up next week.”
From Jean’s letter to her sister Mary, late May
Jean also wrote to her mother the next day about her friend Yvonne’s excitement:
“Yvonne spent yesterday with Laurie, the boy friend and went down to his people’s place for tea. They’ve announced their engagement and plan to marry as soon as possible. They’d be silly not to when it means they’ll enjoy everything so much more doing it together! She has gone to Manchester today to stay with her mother’s cousins there, then on to visit the two old aunts – both in hospital. She’s in a quite a whirl and doesn’t quite know how to go about things. If Laurie’s people know their plans, I should think they’d arrange the wedding. However, she hopes I’ll be able to call and see her on the way north, but we can’t arrange anything definite until she knows the position there.”
from Jean’s letter to her mother, 26 May 1951
